A New Productivity Strategy for Europe

Productivity is a crucial factor for ensuring prosperity. In Europe, however, productivity gains have systematically slowed in recent years. As a result of the corona pandemic, this development could prove to be particularly problematic. If the aim in the coming months is to...

World class patents in cutting-edge technologies

The international balance of power in innovation is shifting – to the advantage von East Asia. This is the central finding of a new study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung on the development of national and regional portfolios of patents in cutting-edge technologies since 2000....

Taxation to the rescue?

The COVID19 – crisis puts a strain on public households in the EU, not only because of necessary rescue packages, but also due to a drop of tax revenues in the face of an economic downward spiral. A European tax reform to support the economic recovery without putting an...

Giving fresh impetus to Germany’s collaboration with Africa on migration

Cooperation with African countries on migration policy is becoming increasingly important for Germany. It has been dominated by a restrictive approach to migration in Europe in recent years and characterized by a wide range of challenges, but it has a new and promising...

EU banks’ vulnerabilities

COVID-19 will hit financial institutions with a substantial time lag, but the coming storm will be fierce. The EU banking sector is entering the troubled waters of the Corona crisis with four major vulnerabilities: (1) Market and (2) funding liquidity risks have been...

Worldwide, democracy is under pressure. The slow but steady erosion of democracy in many places in the last decade seems to accelerate since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. The Asia-Pacific region is not immune against the impositions of authoritarian populism and other...

Macroeconomic effects of demographic aging

Which impact does demographic aging have on productivity growth and macroeconomic indicators in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA? And which potentials arise from labor-saving technological progress to mitigate the consequences of demographic aging?...

Policy Brief 1: High vulnerability to crisis

In most of the 137 developing and transformation countries examined by the BTI 2020, COVID-19 will exacerbate the very weaknesses that have marked the negative balance of the last decade: a lack of rule of law, limited political rights, fiscal instability and rising social...

Flattening the Recession Curve

While the ongoing pandemic affects all European economies, we show that it is likely to cause much more economic damage in some member states than in others. Early fiscal crisis responses by EU governments do not reflect these differences. If anything, countries which are...